Thursday, May 15, 2008

My Spring Break in Sao Paulo and Rio

Gostozando at Brasil a Gosto, Sao Paulo.Amazon fruit sauce on fish atop a manioc pure with a starfruit caipirinha.

Carne de Sol at Colher de Pau.

Comida Mineira lunch buffet.

Luscious Cuzcuz Paulista and bolinhos de camarao.

Bar do Mane's mortadela sandwich and a 600ml Bohemia.Can you say power lunch!

This was my 6th trip to Brazil in just a few years. My Paulista wife was home to visit family for a while and I met up with her for spring break for 9 days, 3 in Rio and 6 in Sao Paulo. But, my stay was all about the food and booze. Regional Brazilian cuisines , street food, markets, cachacas, choppes, caipirinhas, batidas, salgadinhos, wine, queijos, and cocos frios! I spent months researching the Veja online guide to Sampa and Rio, scoured the internet, compiled all my past dining information in Brazil, and set about looking for guide books and magazines about restaurants at the ubiquitous quiosques(news stands) in Brasil. The Guia Quatro Rodas is fantastic. I also bought the Veja Rio Comer e Beber 2007-2008 magazine and the Go Where Gastronomia magazine about the Sao Paulo restaurant scene.

I will attempt to list my hits chronologically and give an overview as I was walking, traveling by bus, and taking the subway all day and night just going to restaurants. I did a little tourist stuff in Rio, but again, this was about the incredible comida Brasileira.

Day 1 Sao PauloMy wife picked me up at GRU and whisked me to the Praca da Republica for their weekend food and crafts fair. I went to a stand with comida Baiana, cooked by a real Baiana, and had my breakfast of acaraje com vatapa. And, to my delight, I spied a home-made cuzcuz Paulista! Too much acaraje, must come back. The booths had comida Baiana, yakisoba, pateis, salgados, doces, and there were guys selling beer and hits of cachaca from little carts.After meeting a friend from LA out to hang with me for a few days we were off to the Mercado Municipal where we saw Bar do Mane(mortadela sandwich), Hocca Bar(pastel de bacalhao), amazon fruits, cheese from Minas Gerais, every animal part imaginable, salted bacalhao, smoked meats for feijoada, carne seca, fresh seafood, imported olive oils and cheeses, cachaca, pao Paulista, vegetables, and much more. But, my date with Bar do Mane and the Hocca Bar would have to wait. Oh, we also went back to Praca da Republica to take some pictures and I couldn’t resist, an empada de palmitos.After cruising 25 de Marco and the street market, we headed to Jardims to Galeria dos Paes for some sweets. Galeria dos Paes is a great stop for desserts and salgdinhos, and is a weekenddestination for its breakfast buffet. After we scouted Jardims Paulista and walked around looking at restaurants, for which Jardims has the greatest concentration of serious eats.Oh, did I mention that Brazilian pizza is amazing?Dinner this first night would be at Braz, located in Higienopolis. Braz is known as one of the best pizzerias in Sao Paulo, in a city that takes pizza very seriously. We ordered a pizza caprese which had a tomato, basil leaf, and disc of mozzarella cheese on each slice. The pao de calabrese, which reminded my friend Craig of the timpani in Big Night, was awesome. A footstool sized bread baked in a wood fired oven with calabrese inside of it, a house specialty. We also had the burrata cheese appetizer, a Portuguese pizza(ham, hard boiled eggs,onions, and black olives) and Bahia pizza, and the mother of all Brazilian pizzas, the pizza de catupiry(sinfully good Brazilian cheese). Brazilian pizza is not to be missed when traveling in Brazil.

Day 2 RioThis day we stopped at Baby Lanches in Copa for sucos and salgadinhos, recommended by our driver. Intimate, and delicious location.After Corcovado, Rocinha, Tijuca forest, Barra da Tijuca, and Sao Conrado, we lunched on heavenly cocos frios, bolinhos de bacalao, and Skol at Tia Augusta’s in Barra. Then, to Academia da Cachaca for a couple of fine “pingas” from Minas Gerais. Great traditional menu and an extensive selection of cachacas. Dinner was on the beach with my wife for frango em passarinho(deep fried chicken pieces), camarao, and batata frita, Brazilian boteco munchies.

Day 3 RioWent to Confeiteria Colombo after goin atop the Pao de Acucar, but not before a milho verde on the street. Milho verde is Brazil’s answer to the elote. Young corn buttered and served in its husk, sweet and fresh. At the Confeiteria Colombo in downtown we experienced one of the best coxinhas com catupiry ever! My wife also ordered pudim, pastel de belem, and a few other Brazilian sweets to die for. Beautiful and elegant, the Confeiteria Colombo was a highlight of our trip. My friend never had a feijoada completa so we took him to Casa da Feijoada, while not being the best feijoada, it is very good and a great place to start your feijoada education. We were pretty stuffed and full of caipirinhas after leaving CDF; we indulged before dinner as well with caipirinhas and bolinhos de aipim(mandioca). What a night.

Day 4 Rio-Sao PauloA carioca breakfast of cocos frios at Copa and and it was off to Sao Paulo. I arrived in Sampa inthe mid-afternoon and hung with my friend in the airport before his trip back to the states. For me, it only got better and better.

Sao Paulo Days 5-9The rest of my time was spent on foot and by public transportation getting down to some serious eating.

Fine dining: I went to Brasil a Gosto and had the best meal of the trip. The starfruit caipirinha was divine and has become a regular indulgence of mine. The couvert had some sinfully good butters and a selection of fresh and wonderful rustic breads. I had fish in an amazonian fruit sauce with a puree of casava ornamented by little savory bites made of black eyed peas.Along with this pleasurable celebration of the river cuisines of Brasil, the restaurant's theme, I enjoyed a bottle of Devassa(Brazilian beer).Oh, and the chef herself came out and spoke with each diner.What a charming woman.My friend ordered chicken served with grilled hearts of palm and vegetables, the chefs favorite dish on the menu due to its tremendous flavor and simplicity

A local turned me on to the Nordeste cuisine of his hometown, so I found myself at Colher de Pau(Woodspoon!) for some carne de sul desfiada(shredded sun-dried meat cooked in butter, and purple onion), served with "baião de dois"(rice, green beans, onions, coriander and curdled cheese cooked in butter), "paçoca", (fried banana and manioc). The caipirinha of fresh maracuja was playful and sexy. It felt like an alcoholic boba drink with the passionfruit seeds thrown in.

Dinner at Tordesilhas, the traditional Brazilian restaurant named after the treaty that divided the world between Spain and Portugal. I ordered the casquinha de siri(crab) served in a shell, and the frango ao molho jabuticaba com pure de mandiocquinha e ervilhas tortas(chicken in jacaticaba sauce with parsnips puree and peas).Outstanding food and service. I concluded the evening at my favorite Lanchopperia, Os Bandeirantes on the corner of Alameda Jau and Rua Augusta for some libations and people watching. The vibe is great, so are the cairpirinhas, sucos, and the salgados.

Special foods:I went back to the Mercado Municipal for the mortadela sandwich at Bar do Mane, established in 1933. The mortadela com pistache tipo Italiano is made by Cerrati(1932) from Sao Paulo state. I had it with tomatoes, lettuce, and melted cheese from Matto Grosso, awesome!! I washed down this monstrous sandwich with a 600ml Bohemia beer. All I could do was stare at the TV showing archival footage from 1979 of Bar do Mane patrons shoving the sandwiches in their faces while mugging for the camera, full of languid ecstasy from the formidable lunch. On another visit I had the pastel de bacalhao, a large triangular pastry made to order, stuffed with the Brazilian staple of salted cod. Anthony Bourdain missed this when he went to the Mercado, but this is the other famous food of the MM. Hocca Bar is to pasteis de bacalhao what Bar do Mane is to the mortadela sandwich. Of course, there are many other places to try both.

The sandwich de pernil(pulled pork traditional sandwich), which is served at many lanchonetes downtown was superb. They brought whole roasted legs of pork across the deli counter to the prep area where the pork was pulled right in front of your greedy eyes. The sandwich was huge, covered with fantastic Brazilian cheese, and was bursting with garlicky richness.

Cuzcuz Paulista looks nothing like couscous, it is so called because a couscous pan is used to shape the gelatinous medly of ingredients, but is a true Paulista delicacy. I went back to Praca da Republica to the other Baiana stand for bolinhos de camarao and the Cuzcuz Paulista. I had it another day lunching with a friend in Sao Paulo at an excellent por kilo with loads of Brazilian favorites. I love this dish.

Caldo de mocoto is a new hangover food my friend in Sao Paulo turned me on to after drinking way to many Skols one night. It is a pig’s foot soup, and at 4AM it was just what the doctor ordered, para os bebados.

Salgados: coxinhas, risoles, kibbes, empadas, efihas, bolinhos, pastries stuffed with everything good and yummy. And, the mother of all comfort foods, the empadao(Brazilian chicken pot pie). You have to eat these addicting comfort foods found everywhere in every city in Brasil. But, eating them at a lanchonete sipping a Brazilian beer, or a guarana is a virtue unto itself.

I explored the Italian food scene a little more this time having some rissotto at Alessandro Segato's.The man is an incredible chef and a real down to earth guy. I had been to Massimo before and othe upscale Italian restaurants in Sampa and have been amazed by the selection and artistry displayed in these fine establishments;the Italian food culture that exists in Sao Paulo eclipes anything we have here in the US.

I’m leaving out many stops and tastes, and places I couldn’t eat at because I was stuffed. I had a choppe at Bar Brahma, and at many places throughout Jardims, Itaim Bibi, Consolacao, Santa Tereza,Bela Vista, Centro, and my homebase in Pinheiros. These places are alive with Paulistas talking, smiling and laughing after work and into the wee hours, the botecos, chopperias, lanchontes, and bares.Can’t wait ‘til the next trip to Brasil.

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About Me

Traveling bon vivant looking for the definitive food experience in all destinations.Original food and booze reporting from Los Angeles, Baja California, Mexico,Brazil, and everywhere else in Latin America.
"It's not necessary to live ,but it is necessary to travel"-Anon
"If you're not eating the local cuisine, you're not really there."-me
"Eat first, ask questions later!"